Drowning muskrats are not aesthetic

Every September, the Relief Society in the Olympia Stake does a sprint triathlon.  It's a great activity to encourage physical health, camaraderie, and some other gospel topics.  Training starts at 12 weeks out and at the end we're all "winners".  I've watched and assisted at some of the past tri's and thought it looked fun and impossible.  This year is 1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. 

So 12 weeks ago my sister Rebekah says "well, my husband thinks I won't be able to do it so now I'm going to prove to him that I can....but I need someone to do it with" and I thought to myself "sweet!  If she does this then I know I have to do it too" so I agreed.  Isn't sisterly competition a wonderful thing? I figured my running's fine, bicycling's not too bad.  Swimming is a whole 'nother issue.  The last time I actually swam in a pool is about 16 years ago.  So the Monday before the triathlon I figured I better start re-learning how to swim.  Reed takes me to the pool and I try to put my face underwater and find that I am drowning.  After 45 minutes of coughing, spluttering and panicking, Reed offered for me to try his snorkel mask.  It was like night and day!  All of a sudden I was okay and could practice swimming.  Every day of the week I spent an hour and a half swimming laps in the pool and felt pretty good.  I couldn't do it without a snorkel but the tri organizers are lenient since they want to encourage participation by any means necessary. 

Getting our markers

My race number

Getting checked in

Done panicking

Saturday arrives.  People snicker at my snorkel and my sister's wet suit but I think to myself "they won't be snickering when they're performing CPR on our lifeless bodies".  I sign up for the very last heat.  I get in the pool.  So far, so good.  I get the go-ahead and start swimming.  La de da.  I get to the middle of the pool.  And realize that the pool is about 10 feet deep and if I start having trouble then I will sink like a rock and die.  I get almost two lengths done before that panicky feeling really hits hard and my legs stop working.  I cling to the lane markers gasping for breath and kicking the other people around me in my attempt to stay afloat.   I look at Rebekah and am happy to discover she's having a problem too!  I don't feel so bad now.  As soon as I talk myself down out of the panic and remind myself that I married a fish (Reed loooooves swimming) who will rescue me in a heartbeat, then I hit my stride and keep going.  By the time the 16 lengths were done I was totally up for more.  Unless I thought about that deep end.  Shudder!  The only thing that got me to the deep end of that darn pool was Reed who was waiting at that side. 

Now for the easy part

We leap/flop out of the pool and hop on our bikes.  It was a pleasant ride without much difficulty at all so I chatted the whole way with Rebekah.  Yay for partners in crime!  While we're riding the bikes Rebekah divulges that she panicked at the deep end of the pool and had to do backstroke because she couldn't breathe.  Just as she started backstroke some lady created a gigantic wave that almost drowned Rebekah.  She freaked out and started floundering.  Then she saw me clinging to the lane markers and was happy about that.  Sisters are awesome!  We laughed so hard about the experience. 

Starting the run

Running was easy....we walked the whole thing.  Rebekah had a ginormous side stitch and we found this time a great opportunity to catch up on work politics, news, and girlie stuff.  We still passed "runners" while walking so I wasn't worried.  Once we got back into the view of the main triathlon transition area we started running again (give the illusion of awesomeness) and Reed cheered me on. I finished just seconds ahead of Rebekah but that was because I sped up to get to my Reed.  We finished in about two hours and thirty minutes which is horrific for the youngest girls participating but it gives us room for improvement.  Next year we are coming back and kicking booty.  Top ten is our goal.

Rebekah and Me...We finished!

Overall, it was a fun experience and I really enjoyed it.  Doing three sports at once is great for my lack of interest in any one sport....I get bored!  I didn't really exert myself too hard and the only part that was unfortunate was my public humiliation in the pool.  Oh well, we all have to have embarrassing moments.  ;-) And I was really truly very blessed because Heavenly Father did not let me have a cardiac arrest, arrhythmia or hyperthermia.  Yay!